The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-01-22

SoHlctililS l sinai eSP'S' ""i y" f"y
Twas only nine years old then, but now
l am thirteen; l remember it, aud re-
member how mother cried, and said:
Yes, deacon, Johnny's my only hope
now and l wondered what l could do.
l really felt as if l ought to commence
at once, and yet I could not think OF
any thing I could do,'
.Well, what did you do?" l asked,
quickly, for l was afraid he would stop.
and l wanted to hear the rest.
well, at first l did very funny things
for a boy. My mother used to knit
socks to sell, and she sewed the rags to
make rag carpet, and helped
"How? What could you do?"
"Well, the people who would like a
carpet could not always get time to
make it. So l went from house to house
among the farmers, and took home
their rags, old coats, and every thing
they had, and out in the woodshed l
ripped and cut them up. Then mother
sewed them, and sometimes l sewcd
some, too, and then | rolled them into
balls and took them back to the owners,
all ready to be woven into carpets"
But did they pay you for your
work?'
"Oh, yes; we got so much a pound.
and | used to feel quite like a merchant,
when l weighed them out myself with
one of our steel yards. But that was
only one way; we have two or three old
apple trees out in the backyard by the
wall, and we dried the apples and sold
them. Then some of the farmers who
had a good many apples began to send
them to us to dry. and we paid them so
many pounds all dried, and then had
all the rest TO SELL"
but surely YOU could not do much
in ways like this?'
"No, not much. but something; and
then we had the knitting
did you knit?"
"Not at first, but after while mother
began to have the rheumatism in her
hands, and the joints became swollen
and the fingers twisted, and it hurt her
to moyc them. Then learned to knit;
before that l always wound the yarn for
her. I had to learn to sew a little, too,
for mother did not like to see holes with
out patches
And he looked half smiling at the
specimens on his own knees.
But you did not mend those9" I
asked.
Eyes, sir, but l was in a hurry, and
mother said it was not done as it ought
to be. They had just been washed, and
I could not wait for them to dry"
"Who washed them?'
Il did, and ironcd them, too. l can
wash and iron almost as well as mother
could"
"But she does not let You do it?'
"She don't mean to have me, but how
can she help it? She can hardly use
her hands at all, and some days herfeet
are so bad she can hardly leave her
chair. So I have had to learn to make
the beds, and scrub the floor and wash
the dishes, and I can cook almost as
well as a girl"
'Is it possible? I shall have to take
supper with you on my way back to the
city and test your skill"
Johnny blushed and l added:
lisa pity, my boy, that you have
no sister,
II had one," he said, gently, "but she
died; and-if she had lived, l wouldn't
have wished her to lift and bring wood
and water, and scrub, as poor mother
always did. Sometimes ! wish ! could
have sprung all the way from q baby to a
man. It's such slow work growing up,
and it was while mother was waiting
for us to grow up that she worked SO
hard"
"But, my dear boy, you can't expect
to be SOL and daughter and mother, all
in one. You can not do the work for
the whole family?"
eyes. l can; it isn't much, and I'm
going to do it and the work my father
left undone. I'm going to pay Deacon
Ball that mortgage, if live"
Heaven grant you may" l said,
fervently, under my breath, ''for not
MANY mothers have such q SON.
Mother does not know l mean to dc
it, and she is very anxious I should &C
to school, and l mean to 60 some time;
but l know where the boys in my class
are studying, and l get the lessons al
home. Mother reads them to me out Of
the book while l am washing the dishes
or doing her work, and when we come
to any thing we can't make out ! take
it over to the teacher in the evening
and she is very kind-she tells"
Very kind! Who would not be kline
to such a boy? l felt the tears coming